Thursday, May 26, 2016

The Apathy of New Releases (Jun '16)

For sixty-nine months I have made this monthly post, covering the new solicitations out of Game Trade Magazine for Alliance Games Distribution. I haven't been doing it as a service for the gaming public, rather to take advantage of the blog to note cool stuff I may want and live out that dream of running a game store again at least once a month.

Starting this month, I'm going back to putting the "The" in front of the title, rather than the "Apathy of the New Releases which changed sometime in the middle of the articles. The Apathy is from my lack of excitement over most of each month's items. The new releases aren't apathetic in and of themselves, rather, some are rage-inducing (like Games Workshop).

I went back the past few years and confirmed it, the May issue of GTM historically has some of the worst crap offered compared to all other months. This year is no exception. Previous years have been filled with a pile of geek-related crap (plushies, cardboard stand-ups, mugs, etcs). This year they've gone the route of useful CCG accessories (always a good time to stock up!), but the items are listed as "PI" which refers a customer to "please inquire" with the store for pricing, and for the store owner, a significantly lower discount (and less profit). Not necessarily the stuff customers actively inquire about, and not the stuff most stores stock adequately for consistent sales (if they stock it at all.)

Next month should be a sizable list of GenCon releaseMy Must Have Want List
Nuttin'My "Money-is-no-Object" Want ListArc Dream Publishing
Delta Green RPG: Agent's Handbook ....................................................................... $39.99
Delta Green RPG: Need to Know .............................................................................. $24.99I should have jumped into the Kickstarter with both feet, and I should grab this right now. I just don't know when I would have a chance to play this. My Imaginary Store (The Pegleg Gnome) List

Ares GamesA lot more Wings of Glory planes, but no pricing, and the fact that the pictures make the planes look cheap is a huge turn off. As I mentioned last month, despite my desire to support historicals, the imaginary sales of my imaginary store would suggest I have trim back a sizable amount, if not a full liquidation.The Army Painter
The Others: Paint Set of Sin .................................................................................... $29.99

Atlas Games
Lost in R'lyeh Card Game ........................................................................................ $14.95

Dex ProtectionI know everytime I walk into the real FLGS, I'm shocked by how much sleeves, binders, pages, deck boxes, etc have crept up in price over the years. Dex Protection makes all that stuff, but you know why I would order from them? Retail laziness. Their Proline deck boxes have two sizes and two matching MSRPs. I'd much rather use them than need to calculate a price from Ultra-Pros stock wholesale price, especially since,, if stores sell the same Ultra-Pro item for the same price as the Dex Protection, the store makes more money. Call me crazy.Fantasy Flight Games
Cold War: CIA vs KGB ..................................................................................... $14.95
Eldritch Horror: Signs of Carcosa Expansion .................................................... $24.95
SW Armada: Imperial Assault Carriers .............................................................. $19.95
SW Armada: Rebel Transports ........................................................................... $19.95

Frank Tiano Enterprises
Zap a Gape Single Use CA+ (5 - 0.01 Oz Tubes) ................................................ $ 4.95I guess this is good to throw in your minis case when you damage something at the tournament. Games Workshop
'Ardcase .............................................................................................................. $135.00Rant time, again. I winced 15 years ago when I dropped $50 for GW case. Foams a little worn, but it's certainly serviceable. Water tight and air tight are not two things I need in a minis, but yet, for $135, I can have them.
Angels of Death Codex Supplement
Black Legion Codex Supplement
Crimson Slaughter Codex Supplement ............................................................... $33.00 eachSo, GW releases beautiful hardcover codexes, and now we need supplements to those codexes for the cool stuff in expansion, with no promise that they won't do more. Classic GW.
Imperial Knights: Renegades .............................................................................. $195.00Upon finding an unboxing video, I'm appalled. Mini-titans for 40K with a million pieces for two hundred bucks? SMGDMFHGoodman Games
Dungeon Crawl Classics Core Rules SC ............................................................... $24.99

Reaper MiniaturesIn a world where the Reaper Bones are a dime a dozen (adjusted for inflation), I question why they're releasing more undead/skeletons. Don't get me wrong, they're quite nice., but in a world where plenty of minis manufacturers have backstock in cheaper skeletons, making them for $3.50 apiece is ludicrous. There's also a mass release of their Master Series paints. $3.69 for a 1/2 ox (14.78ml) pot is a better deal than the 12ml GW for $3.99+. Rogue Games
Colonial Gothic: Gamemaster ................................................................................. $19.99

About Me

I'm a very happy (and happily married) father of two beautiful little girls named Maja and Amelia. Maja bit the gaming bug with Gnome Wars at the age of two, and has kept going ever since.
I've been at just about every end of the gaming industry (save distribution, I just had connections). Store employee, manager, company demo guy, writer, publisher, reviewer, painter, con staff and organizer.